Geass Aberration: The Ether Between
by S.F.I. Lawrence
Summary: These are the stories and details in-between the main chapters of Geass Aberration, starting with the first between Delta and Epsilon. These have important stuff in them, so you'll need to read 'em so you don't get confused later. Again,GA is serious biz.


Geass Aberration: The Ether Between

Delta + Epsilon/**Ϝ** (Digamma)

_You lot should know that this is a side chapter to my main story, Geass Aberration. This is all the stuff that I cannot or did not put into the main chapters, as well as the bridge between Delta and Epsilon. Know that is sure as hell Not an omake, but something more in the order of the sound episodes of the primary series. Every single event here has significance to the main story, so be sure to read it if you want to understand some of the following chapters. Now, enjoy and let me know what you think. -----_

**London, England; 11:05 AM **

A man sat in the shade of a dark and cloudy day, the sickly light of the cloud-blocked sun coming through the great sun window barely illuminating his pensive face as he watched events half a world away through a heavily upgraded laptop. "Hmmmmm… Heh, Galt was just cannon fodder to you, wasn't he, Doctor?" he chuckled. He flickered through the audio and video information that had been transmitted by the last member of the squadron shortly before he was ground to dust. What interested him was not the Doctor or his antics, but rather his new ally, who appeared to have caused Galt to have a complete nervous breakdown, and then a heart attack. The audio had come from Galt's Vincent, but the video had come from another wraith, which was rather fuzzy in quality, mainly because of the battlefield conditions. What he had heard was somewhat grainy quality as well, but well enough to hear one particular thing: "**Le-ouch Von Bri-annia ---- Commands –ou**"

His staff under the Tower of London had gone into a panic, phoning him in the middle of his little cat-nap and jabbering inanely into his ear until he coaxed them into calming down via hypnosis. They were terrified, in a quite unprofessional way, in such a manner this man was familiar with, but familiar in that he had once inflicted that fear on people himself, not from outside. For someone to evoke that kind of fear, the kind where mentioning the name brought hammering hearts and sweat rolling down faces, the man was briefly flummoxed. _How could anyone be more fearsome than I?_ He had thought. Then he remembered just who was behind that name, what it meant in the history of this planet, and he had laughed.

Laughed mockingly at the Doctor, for inflicting upon himself a confused monster, a lord of war whose only limitation (annoyingly) was his humanity. Laughed for joy that he was finally going to have some fun, if only briefly. Laughed in glee at the thought of the Doctor's shocked, hurt face, right before he met his fiery disposal courtesy of said madman. And for good measure, he smiled at the thought of crushing the pantomime tyrant into the ash of that far off land, preferably in front of those few who cared about him. _But I'm getting ahead of myself,_ he thought, bringing himself back under that professional mask, ordering his confused men to prepare.

"We must drag the snake into the harsh light of judgment. He must be made to pay for what happened to all of us three years ago!" _And put pay to this annoying thing called world peace. Thus, oh wonderful conqueror, your one little mistake, one impurity, one blight upon this chaotic galaxy, will be removed forever. _He then put in an isolated call to one of his "friends" in Vladivostok, instructing them with a smirk on his face as to what specifically he and his men would do in four days…

([Note that this takes place a day after the events of Narita and the next section])

** Ϝ**

**Narita, Disaster Area, Search Sector 28**

Pain. Soreness. Numbness. Burning. This is what Captain John Galt felt, his face smarting from slamming into the controls. A loud noise had awakened him, the sound of a thousand men and women canvassing a battlefield and a twice-ravaged town to find… something. Him? Yes, him. "Ooohhhhhhhhh… Got… to… gehhhhh….." His hair was drenched with sweat, vision severely blurred, his movements slow, jerky, drunken. _I… Have… To…LEAVE!_ Suddenly he noticed something. A fierce burning sensation throughout his entire body, from the bottoms of his feet to the tips of his fingers. That, and the smell and sound of something sizzling. He looked around for the source, and when he found it…

_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!**_

His hand had fallen onto the side of the wrecked Vincent when he had collapsed, _onto the metal armor_. Said armor was boiling from the friction heat of travel and battle, and from uranium-based radiation. Said hand had been resting there for roughly an hour. This was why he couldn't feel it. This was also why he felt remarkably lucid as he scrambled out of the destroyed knightmare, to tumble painfully down onto the baked earth and mud. "Gotta *gasp* get outta *wheeze* here…" He scrambled down the slope, occasionally stumbling and falling, trying desperately to avoid the searchlights and advancing recovery squads, which meant traveling through the areas still ablaze. He saw a small patch of land untouched by fire, still harboring trees and stubborn grass, ample cover, if only for a brief time.

He staggered towards it, paying little heed to anything else. The ground gave way beneath him, saturated and barely solid, sending him sliding down the slope, to land whimpering in the hollow of a downed tree. He closed his eyes, silently lamenting about how far he'd come down in the world… Then opened his eyes to find a fire-team of JAF soldiers pointing their rifle-mounted flashlights at him. If Galt had been any stronger, he would have rushed them so that they would end his life. As such, he simply raised his good hand in surrender, prepared to play the role that had been given to him. While the rest of the team was sent off to retrieve a stretcher, the lead rifleman ambled up to him, then crouched down, lips curled into a smirk. To his great surprise, the man whispered in a Northern accent, "Rule Britannia."

John's eyes widened. He almost allowed himself relief, but stopped himself. He had to make sure. "Who rules the waves?" he rasped back. "Those who'll never be slaves." Said the man, giving the erstwhile Captain a friendly hand.

For the first time since the mission began, Galt smiled.

** Ϝ**

**Suiwara Village: Tōhoku region**

It was typically said of Japan that if one looked deep enough into its culture, past the adopted western motifs, past the changes made to keep up with China and Britannia, one could find all sorts of fascinating things. One of these things, which intrigued both folklorists and Fortean researchers, was the variety of strange creatures one could hear of; most of these, like oni, daitengu, and kitsunes, typically caused the modern man's eyes to glaze over or roll.

One of the exceptions, however, was the kappa. For millennia, the natives of the isles had claimed to have seen these creatures, fought with them, or brokered deals with them, into the modern era. As such, every so often a bunch of cryptozoologists, mystics, or documentary makers would come to the more remote regions of the home isles to see if they could get something on camera.

As such, whenever they came and left, having only discovered how costly the little tourist shops can be, Azumo Naomi just laughed softly at them. They really didn't need to make all this fuss. She already knew they were real, known ever since she was four 3 years back. In fact, every Sunday morning, while the adults were either still asleep or off to work, she played and talked with one! When she had told her mother of doing this for the first time, she had gone quiet, uttered a prayer, and then harshly scolded her for disturbing "gods". Why was it such a big deal just to walk out into those misty marshes, to talk with one of those "demigods"? They were just a bunch of people who liked to live in peace and quiet, and who were really much nicer than some of the other locals.

As such, she was carefully and quietly padding out the back door, basket in hand, a long stick in the other. For someone 90% blind like her, it was just a matter of tracing one's steps, listening carefully, and not wading through the really deep water. She'd done this so many times that she was able to know where most of the deep spots were, along with many of the obstacles. This little journey out into the heart of the marshes most of the time was just about twenty minutes long, and ended up in the warmer waters near an untapped hot spring. It was quite pleasant, really. The colder water near the start of the journey wasn't so fun, but getting past that was worth it.

As soon as the water became like a bath, she began reaching around, poking at the thick mosses and weeds until she found those huge, white (for she could see bright colors, the rest was a big blur) flowers from the magnolia tree. She set her basket down on the more solid ground, and then called out to quiet forest at large. "Maza-sama, I'm here!"

For moment, there was silence. Then she heard the sound of a door sliding open, like the _shōji_ you found in homes across the islands, but with metal instead of wood and paper. From what she could understand, Maza and his fellows mostly lived below ground, coming out more often in the spring and summer, but sleeping like bears for the region's bitterly cold winters. Maza was an old kappa from she could tell, and the cooling weather probably wouldn't help him get any faster, so she waited patiently at the dry patch as she listened to the splashes and bubbling getting louder and louder. When she heard the hissing breath, she could tell that he was right in front of her. She bowed, heard the responding bow with a watery swish, and then reached into her basket for a cucumber. A warbling chuckle came from the blur in front of her as a warm, webbed hand received the vegetable, followed by a deep, gentile, if slightly croaking voice. "I can alwayss count on a meal like thiss from you, can't I, Naomi-ssan? You're getting here quicker every time. Very adaptive." She nodded, smiling. Hearing an "adaptive" from Maza meant a sincere compliment, usually with some pleasant surprise. Maza was what people called a scientist, and thus liked to watch people, then make interesting little things after watching them.

"Sso, what newss from the outsside thiss week, Naomi-ssan?" the kappa asked, a slight tinge of concern and worry just evident in his voice. "Well, there's been a big fight down to the south, from what I've been hearing. Some big mountain called Narita blew up, and there was a big cloud with fire, big metal men, and even a daitengu. But that can't be right, tengu aren't real." She said, frowning in puzzlement. Maza had indeed told her so a while back, but he had said that the metal men were _very_ real, and that she was lucky to have never met one.

"Oh, and they said something about a witch and her pet Oni coming out of the mountain, but they've been saying that for ages, haven't they, Maza-sama?" When Maza stayed silent save for the rattling breaths, she started to get worried. "Maza-sama? Is there something wrong?" she heard the crunch of a cucumber, then the kappa spoke, managing to sound serious even through the crunching. "I'm afraid that the witch and her Demon are quite real, Naomi. The witch iss not really bad. That demon though…" she heard him shudder. "With luck, you will never have to meet him and hiss metal men, but I'm almosst sure that he will come looking for usss. My people and I may have to hide." Naomi gasped, unhappy at the thought of their little routine being stopped. The kappa seemed to think things over briefly, then spoke, this time with an unexpected smile in his voice. "Do not worry though. There is one who hass come from on high to counsel the Demon King, a Lonely Angel, if my perception is correct." A webbed claw ruffled Naomi's hair comfortingly. "And before you ask, Naomi-ssan, thisss one is real…"

** Ϝ**

**Tokyo, International Frame Testing Complex, Exit Lobby**

"Enjoy your rest, Ms. Kouzuki! There'll be even more tests tomorrow!" The reinstated Earl of Pudding cheerily called after the Ace's retreating back, smiling that mischievous smile. The Red Lotus said not a word to the excitable technophile scientist, crumpling a Styrofoam cup up in her hand to suppress the desire to put those hands around his neck and shake him. "I have a life, dammit…" she grumbled to herself. _Then again, what do I really have besides this and university life? A flirty penpal some thousand miles away, a loving, gentle mother, and a memorial tablet to… Him._ A wave of futility rolled over her. At age 17, she had a purpose, a will, a cause. At 21, she had none of that, only boredom, monotony, and occasional despair, with occasional moments of happiness. _I guess it beats going into a warzone every day, but still…_She shook her head. He hadn't died, hadn't paid the ultimate price for peace, just for those he cared for to grumble. And even then, if one watched the news these days, one could see that his sacrifice might very well have been in vain.

With a sigh, she walked out into the parking lot, to her 2020 LM (a gift from Gino [Lamborghini Maxis]), got in, was about to put the keys in the ignition when her cell phone buzzed from a text. She picked up the cell, then scowled upon seeing who had sent it: Zero. _Two years without a peep, and now he wants something? So what the hell is it, bastard?_

She opened the phone; saw a street address in Shinjuku and the time to be there, as well as a message: **It is absolutely crucial that you come. Time to choose, Q1.**

She had to fight down the impulse to crush the device to plastic and silicon fragments. _Damn you, Kururugi… Only He could call me that! It was his name for me, and you haven't a chance in Hell of earning the right to use it!_

The phone buzzed again. The message read: **6:30 Q1, or would you prefer I sent my men to drag you here? Leave your car at home. **

_What the… BASTARD!!!_ Teeth bared, knuckles white, she drove off with the sound of burning rubber.

One hundred miles away, a masked figure put down the phone with a smirk. "It's time to recast the ties of belonging, or least make the attempt…"

**Ϝ**

**Enki Lane, Shinjuku**

Shinjuku was a very different place from the rest of Tokyo. It had been a nondescript district before the Britannians had conquered the Land of the Rising Sun, and it had become an equally nondescript, decrepit even, ghetto. Then came the miracle of Zero, the first victory in his grand crusade against the tyrannical might of Britannia. Ever after that great humiliation of the colonials, it was the stomping grounds and great symbolic sanctum for the Black Knights and any who loathed Britannia. For BK recruits after their organization had reached the height of its power, it was an unofficial mandate to come here at least once to honor the victory. After the end of the Tyrant's rule, it was still ritual for the Black Knights to come here, except now there was a black marble statue of Zero standing astride a broken Vincent, a broken and angry-looking approximation of the Demon at the hero's feet, his sword raised high in triumph. There were various other memorials and statuaries here, so many that some jokingly called it the 'Monumental District'.

Kallen made it a tradition to visit once a year, on the day, not of the anniversary of the Battle of Shinjuku, nor the Liberation of Japan, but of that when Lelouch V. Britannia had met his end.

----The first time she did this, furtively while the sun sank over the horizon, she was surprised to see a few dozen veiled figures present, either looking up at the statue or kneeling. When she got closer, one of the people, a tall, wiry man in a charcoal coat, turned to her and smiled with a bow before speaking. "Welcome, Crimson Lotus. We were expecting you to come here. Care to join us in remembering the unsung 99th?" She tensed up upon realizing both from the man's voice and facial features that he was a Britannian. In fact, all of the people in this little area were Britannian "How, wha--" The man smiled. "It's alright, Miss Kouzuki. We know. We lament him because we know, as do you. One man's tyrant is another man's savior; as such…" he pulled at the left side of his coat to reveal the short-lived insignia of the Demon Emperor, a scarlet and purple eye in brooch form. Kallen nodded with realization, looking at the eyes. It made sense. "You served him voluntarily, didn't you? No red lines around the irises, and you seem to be proud of it. So, why don't you hate him anyway? He slaughtered thousands in that brief war, even if it was to…" She stopped when she saw the man shrug, smile now rueful.

"Would you prefer Schniezel to have won? Come to think of it, why did you and your compatriots follow _that_ madman? Yes, we know who he was before his coronation, Zero the revolutionary. And the Black Knights, who had served him with their own free will, betrayed him out of their own free will at the word of an enemy." The man's eyes became glacial. "We think that for your ill-considered betrayal, what happened at Mt. Fuji was punishment. They call Lelouch Von Britannia 'The Man Who Held the World at Gunpoint'? Huh. Surely you aren't so deluded as to not remember who actually fired the gun? We followed our Emperor because he had good reasons for what he did and felt some remorse for some of the worse things he had to do; a few of us servants and servicemen saw his anguish over having to do such things as turn against his sister, turn against the men he had commanded, and yes, Lotus, over turning against you. Schniezel was the monster. Your Black Knights should have shot him out of the skies for his atrocities." The crowd of Britannians and Honoraries turned to watch her. "So tell us, Kallen Kouzuki, even if it was part of the plan to not make you part of the fallout, why did you choose to fight him if you knew him well enough to recognize his guises? Why didn't you kill the true monster, join our ranks, make all accountable to him, and reduce the bloodshed through fear of two unstoppable forces, Kururugi and Kouzuki, standing side-by-side? Did you simply not care what Schniezel did as long as you could sweep in, save your former leader from his own plan?"

Kallen took a deep breath, looking determinedly into the man's face. "Whether you know it or not, he… went mad after the obliteration of the Tokyo Settlement. He lost the will to live, and to hold back. When he became emperor, I was afraid, especially when I saw that look on his face. What I did in the Royal Civil War… You want to know what MY plan was? Yank him from his command ship, and then take him into Damocles. And then show all of the Black Knights leadership what a real monster was. I would have let Lelouch do what ever the hell he wanted to do with Schniezel. I **would** be at his side, to shake him back to his senses, to give him a reason to live… I was his goddamned bodyguard! I should have been allowed to save him! He wouldn't have to have died!" tears started to flow freely as she pointed at the statue. "HE would be standing at the top, and Schniezel would be crucified. Why couldn't it have gone that… why…? KURURUGI!!!" She screamed, hunting for something to throw hard at the face of Zero. The crowd encircled her.

"Calm down. Believe us, we have a distaste for the man as well, but first, no attention can be directed at us, and second, you are not honoring his memory by behaving this way. Just to let you know, we are aware that you wanted to be with him, and not just because you were his bodyguard. And no I'm not going to go through with a cliché and voice those reasons." That last bit made her both calm down and be a little weirded out at the same time. "We understand. It's not fair. But Kururugi lives out his punishment every day, for the rest of his life, and Schniezel is reduced to a mere thrall. He does deserve death, a slow and painful one, but he can do no further harm in his current state. Now, I suppose we've badgered and bothered you enough. If you feel like you need someone else to confide in, simply look in the Britannian neighborhoods; there will be someone there who will recognize why you are present. Do as you choose now."

She nodded, and then walked towards the statue; she raised an eyebrow when she saw the inscription for who had made it, Saul Lorenz, a Britannian. A woman sitting near the base smirked when she saw what Kallen was looking at. "Funny how things work out, isn't it? Just to let you know, we know Saul; take a guess at who he really supported. Heheh. Look carefully at his face, especially the eyes. We suspect the message on the hand is meant for you." As such, they didn't seem to hold as much anger and ferocity up close. In fact, they almost seemed sorrowful, a tear seeming to swell under the right, as if mourning the great work that was to be forever yet undone. _Your greatest work __is_ _done, Lelouch. We just have to keep it steady…_ the figure's hand beckoned, meant to appear as curling into a defiant fist, but could also be interpreted as ushering forth the new age. Looking at his other hand, resting at his side, she noticed tiny words inscribed into the palm: _**Remember me, all but the Queen.**_ Kallen looked back up at the face, those eyes seeming to look down on her apologetically. Slowly, gently, she put her hand against the cheek of cold marble; she smiled. "Forget you? You insensitive clod. _Never_. Gino's not awesome enough to block you out. So you'll have to forgive me for disobeying you one last time. Thank you for proving what you were in the end." She almost imagined the face looking at rest, at peace, could almost see that satisfied smirk of his…----

** Ϝ**

She wasn't here for that. The place was deserted, the Sunday rush over with… yet there should have been people here, nonetheless. Warning bells started going off in her head. _Did Suzaku have this place cleared out before I got here? Why am I here anyway? I don't even work for the Black Knights anymore! _ And yet, along with the feeling of foreboding, there was a sense, a thought at the back of her mind that urged her to continue. She walked through the square, into the back roads, to a part of Central Shinjuku that was unrepaired, and still quite dilapidated, Enki Lane. She looked around, seeing no one, before a gravelly voice caught her attention. "Miss Kallen Kouzuki?" she turned round to see two black suited men, Britannian by their skin tone, standing near the entrance to an alley, arms behind them, shades over their eyes. "Commander Zero wishes to speak with you in private. There is a higher level of scrutiny on the Black Knights and government at the moment, so this was necessary. Follow us." Mutely, she did. They walked into the alley, which was covered by a tinfoil roof so that it was already dark without the sun beginning to set. She could see a figure near the back of the alley, faceless, masked. The visage of Zero. "Alright, you got me out here, what d'ya want? What's with the threat?" she demanded furiously. From the mask, the modulated voice spoke. "There is new information regarding the state of the world. Critical data. The planet can no longer be said to be at peace. Events like those at Narita are harbingers of war. They CANNOT be tolerated. Because of this, I have brought you here."

"For what? I will _never _work for you. What's the point? I know who's under that mask, and--" "No you don't, Q1." The figure stepped forward, into a stream of light, and Kallen noticed something was _very_ off. To start with, the color scheme was different, scarlet and jet with violet eye insignia at the hems of his cloak. The mask had changes to it, so that it could no longer be said to look like a tulip (The colors were also red and black), instead going for a more angular look, with wing-like finneons attached to the hinges of the device. And the way he carried himself… No it can't be!

"I have waited long for this, Kallen…" He hissed, tapping at an area just under his chin. _Clikclickclikclik_

The mask retracted into the collar and…

Her heart stopped. For standing before her was the Prince of Madness, Demon and Hero, Angel and Devil, master of lies and the greatest ally one could ever have, Lelouch Von Britannia. For just a moment, it seemed that all was right with her world. Then reality took hold, and a wave of hate surged through her. "How. _Dare. _You… Imposter." She reached for the blade pouch…

** Ϝ****Ϝ****Ϝ**

_----- This was something to tide you lot over before Epsilon. So, how bad was it?_

_Just to clarify, Kallen's angrier at Suzaku for not shaking Lelouch back to a state resembling sanity than the actual killing itself. That, she considered a betrayal._

_Whovians, take a guess as to who the 'kappas' are. And yes, they're a little psychic._

_Concerning Galt, I can't just have alternate versions of UNIT officers for Saxon's army. So I had this guy. So sue me. _

_A little teaser for Epsilon in two words: Czar Krabs._

_Kindly direct any faves at the main story, but alert and review here._

_Velshard, the flashback is for you. Thanks, man. _


End file.
